Developments in technology combined with the COVID-19 pandemic have changed the way sales teams operate forever.
In the past, face-to-face meetings were everyday practice in the world of business — however, now sellers are faced with only the ability to make critical business connections online.
In this virtual selling environment, salespeople need digital solutions to help make their job easier and increase the chances of successfully closed opportunities.
One of these digital products on the rise is the digital sales room software which provides tools that boost productivity and improve efficiency for virtual sellers; working from the office or at home!
What is virtual selling?
Virtual selling refers to the digital replacement for face-to-face meetings, which in many areas around the world are now impossible due to the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Salespeople have grown more accustomed to digital elements in their sales process through the proliferation of email and LinkedIn as primary contact methods.
To succeed in virtual sales — salespeople need tools to collaborate with others in their company and follow up on leads, automate tasks such as lead generation or email marketing campaigns, share presentations or video content and provide digital feedback through poll surveys
How can a digital sales room help virtual sellers?
A digital sales room is a web-based portal that aids in the facilitation and documentation of all communications between a buyer and seller in a business-to-business (B2B) deal cycle.
At present, these communications are made ad-hoc — with limited or no digital record of what transpired, making it difficult for internal management to gauge the status of each opportunity.
In addition, sellers may struggle to create customized sales experiences without the most helpful information at their fingerprints, with buyers also frustrated at the inability to easily access critical details that may have been discussed, like pricing, contract conditions, and product options.
A digital sales room simplifies this entire process — allowing a salesperson to create and send helpful materials which are personalized to the needs and requirements of each prospect.
When can you use digital sales room software?
Digital sales rooms can be used from the first point of contact with a prospect all the way until they renew their next contract.
Lead generation and sales development
When a prospect makes an inquiry — a salesperson can create a digital sales room to introduce themselves with a welcome experience - combining assets like videos, documents and case study information.
In the same way, when sales development representatives (SDRs) go outbound — they can create a clickable experience for prospects to explore with the ability to engage them via live chat when they are active on any deal room materials.
Sales meetings and opportunity development
Sellers can use digital sales room software to create & send meeting agendas with in-built questionnaires, allowing them to capture key discovery data even before the first meeting has occurred.
After a sales meeting has taken place, sellers can follow up with a meeting summary containing all relevant notes, supporting documentation, and critical pricing information required for the prospect to make a decision.
As these materials are forwarded around an organization — the salesperson will then be notified as to who is looking at the experience and for how long, allowing them to create an account map dynamically to steer the deal towards the point of contract.
Proposals and presentations
Compared with Powerpoint or Google Slides, which need to be presented live to have any real persuasive power in the sales process — proposals & presentations created with digital sales room software can really come to life.
Sellers can pre-record explanations on key slides, insert dynamic variables so that content is automatically personalized based on elements like the client name or company and can embed HTML code to create interactive, clickable journeys.
There are many ways to create and present sales content via a digital sales room to help bring your brand to life.
Configure Price Quote (CPQ)
When a digital sales room is set up from the start of a deal, sellers can configure CPQ to automatically generate configuration options for any product they offer and choose their preferred pricing option.
At present, buyers either struggle with understanding accessibility to this type of content as it's embedded in an email or Powerpoint presentation; or alternatively cannot configure pricing options themselves using an interactive builder-style approach.
Contract Lifecycle Management (CLM)
A digital sales room can be used to manage the entire contract lifecycle, including all necessary edits and redlines.
Sellers can access a digital library of all contracts in one place, with custom contracts easily created by dragging and dropping clauses based on customer requirements.
Customers can then suggest or make edits without needing to download a Word document — saving time and giving sales teams full visibility on where the contract is in the evaluation process.
E-signature
Digital sales rooms can offer legally binding e-signature options allowing sellers to capture the intent to proceed from any proposals or contracts issued via the deal room.
Customer success & contract renewal
Once a customer has signed on to become a customer, a digital sales room can also host any onboarding or implementation documentation required to get the company up and running.
In addition, should a new contract need to be issued prior to renewal, this can be facilitated inside the existing digital sales room without a new instance needing to be created
What is the future of virtual selling with digital sales room software?
Over the next ten years, prospects will eventually expect all communication they have with vendors to occur inside a digital sales room.
In fact, Gartner predicts that as soon as 2025, 50% of B2B sales tech implementations will include digital sales rooms.
If they proceed, this will serve as a system of record for all expectations set by the vendor around service components and delivery.
If they choose to go ahead with another provider, this will then become a digital archive they can "reopen" when they choose to engage again at some point in the future.
How many times have we almost bought a product only to return it a year later, having to go through exactly the same buying process again? This will be eliminated with deal rooms allowing both buyers and sellers to "pick up" where they left off.
Furthermore, buyers today need to ask sellers to manually approve their colleagues for access to key materials. This will no longer be needed as employees who share the same domain will be able to access all sales room content through SSO credentials.
If you want to learn more about digital sales rooms, check out our dedicated content hub.
